Alan Thompson has lifted the lid on his explosive battles with Fernando Ricksen including tales of the Dutchman turning up at his doorstep with fireworks and a pitbull!
The two men arrived in Glasgow in 2000 and found homes in the same Newton Mearns estate just as Celtic set off on a period of domestic dominance.
Thompson was as much a part of that success as Henrik Larsson, Chris Sutton and the other big hitters with a habit of finding the net whenever the Glasgow derby came around.
After a nightmare 18 months on arrival Ricksen found some form under Alex McLeish but rarely got the better of his neighbour and rival on the pitch.
The grapevine was buzzing with hearsay about events off the park, on one occasion their clashes on the park spilled over to a late night confrontation far away from the 60,000 baying fans that had packed Celtic Park to witness a whitewash.
Serialising Thompson’s book, A Geordie Bhoy, The Sun reports on the whitewash aftermath:
I’d been going nuts with Chris Sutton and the fans. I ran up the park for Rangers to kick off, but on the way, I ran past Fernando and gave him a little tap on his cheek and said, ‘Don’t be coming to knock on my door ever again’.
I’ll admit now I did that to my old sparring partner for a reaction. Only seconds after Rangers kicked off, the full-time whistle went and he came looking for me. Fernando didn’t get anywhere near me on the pitch, but he wanted a boxing match in the tunnel. I got to the dressing room to celebrate with the lads.
On that same night, I went out to celebrate with Chris and our wives. My mum was babysitting the kids while we were out. Later that night, again in the early hours, the doorbell went, and as I looked out the window I saw Fernando with this bullmastiff on a lead.
I just remember the dog being absolutely huge. I shouted to him, ‘What do you want?’ He replied, ‘Come on then big man, we’ll do it now’. That was Fernando’s response, with his very angry pitbull growling as well. It was as if the dog had known what had gone on and also wanted revenge.
I told Fernando I was happy to come down and, as they say in Glasgow, ‘Have a square go’, but he needed to take that monster home first.
I rang his mate and fellow Dutch international Ronald de Boer who also lived in the same street as us. Ronald lived directly opposite me, with Tore Andre Flo also in the neighbourhood.
De Boer thankfully answered, although it was in the early hours and I told him what was going on. I told him I had my little girl Saffron, only three months old, asleep, and that his mate was outside and it was unacceptable.
Ronald opened his door to talk sense into his team-mate, which made Fernando even more irate.
I don’t know what De Boer said because it was in Dutch. But whatever he said it worked and off went Fernando into his house and that was the end of the matter. Although he was a pain at times, that was Fernando and as a footballer you probably wouldn’t want to take that side of him away.
In five seasons as a regular under Martin O’Neill, Thompson scored 48 goals with three more added under Gordon Strachan.